In recent years, the Malaysian government has shown increasing interest in carrying out initiatives leading towards greater compliance with its international obligations on forced labour and trafficking in persons (TIP).
A key challenge in Malaysia is the limited number of prosecutions and convictions on these issues due to weaknesses in victim identification, evidence gathering, trust-building with the victims, knowledge about relevant laws, and coordination among enforcement agencies and other State and non-State actors. The Malaysian Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Council (MAPO)’s National Action Plan on Trafficking in Persons 2021-2025 launched last March 2021 includes among its key objectives, improved enforcement and increased prosecutions and convictions.
Within the framework of the NAPTIP, MAPO and the International Labour Organization’s “From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour” (Bridge) Project with funding support from the US Department of Labor, jointly developed the e-Learning Course on Forced Labour and Human Trafficking targeted for Malaysian Law Enforcers.
This e-Learning course – available in Bahasa Malaysia - could be accessed by officers of the Royal Malaysian Police, Department of Labour, Immigration Department, Royal Malaysian Customs and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency through MAPO portal. These beneficiary agencies also took part in the design of the publicly-available manual used for this e-learning entitled Forced Labour and Trafficking in Persons - Training Manual for Malaysian Law Enforcers. This manual was developed by ILO Consultants Pieter Cronje and Azlan bin Mohd Said who are experienced in law enforcement both at the international and national-level, respectively.
In his welcoming message for the e-Learning course, Ybhg. Datuk Wan Ahmad Dahlan bin Haji Abdul Aziz, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Home Affairs, acknowledged the various challenges and difficulties that exist in the fight against human trafficking and forced labour, and reiterated the Malaysian government’s commitment to step up efforts to identify these crimes in a more creative and holistic manner. “The e-Learning course is an immediate action taken by the government in line with the recommendations of the United States Department of State Report on Trafficking in Persons (USTIP), which highlights the need to strengthen understanding of victim-centered approaches among civil servants, as well as the importance of integrated training modules for enforcement officers,” he added. This e-Learning course aims to train participants to better identify and investigate cases of forced labour, including TIP for labour exploitation. It introduces forced labour indicators and addresses different stages of the investigative process, such as victim interviews and gathering evidence, with a focus on the pre-trial phase. It consists of six modules on: definitions and mandates on forced labour and human trafficking; national, international and regional frameworks relate to TIP and forced labour; identification of potential cases of TIP and forced labour; victim care and protection; referral of cases and other practical guidelines based on global good practices.
The training also made use of other existing tools for the judiciary and labour inspectors, step-by-step referral guide on forced labour and human trafficking – developed with ILO Bridge project support; and the National Guidelines on Human Trafficking Indicators adopted by MAPO with support from Joining Hands Against Modern Slavery.
“We hope that this e-Learning course would be useful for MAPO and the law enforcement agencies to increase their knowledge and skills on addressing forced labour and human trafficking. The law enforcement agencies have an essential role in making perpetrators accountable for their criminal acts, affording justice to the victims and protecting their human rights, and deterring these crimes from happening through strategic and effective enforcement,” emphasized Jodelen Mitra, Technical Officer for the ILO Bridge Project.
